The National Geographic Magazine
Field Museum of Natural History
A Chaldean Christian Bride Wears Her
Dowry of Coins
Fourteen years old, she lives in a small village north of
Mosul. Note the cross and nose ring. Girls of this village
are famous for their beauty. They marry young and bear
children early.
at me quizzically and told me to follow
him.
We entered a large reed hut and he
bade me sit on a pile of rice straw. In
a short time the hut was surrounded by
a veritable mob of human water rats.
Within, the chief, with a dozen of his
men, gave me the third degree.
My Arab clothes could not hide my
gray eyes and my tawny beard. He said,
"You are a Turk and therefore an enemy.
You have come to spy on us and your
life is forfeit."
I protested, however, that I was not
a Turk, and that, indeed, I was a tabib,
short-cutting through the marshes to
reach the Tigris. A tabib is technically
a doctor, but to an Arab it may include
many degrees of quacks, and so I quali
fied.
"A tabib?" said he.
"Then I will test
your skill. I will bring you a sick man.
If you cure him, you are our honored
guest. If you fail-pkhkhkh," and he
drew his hand across his throat signifi
cantly.
"Bring along your sick man," I said
as confidently as circumstances seemed
to require. But inwardly I prayed, "Oh
Allah, anything but a leper!"
"Bring Abu Farhan," said the chief,
and in a few moments an old man was
brought in groaning and writhing in pain.
I diagnosed it as colic and gave him the
biggest dose of morphine I think any
mortal has ever swallowed and survived.
In a few minutes he was asleep and
my skill had been vindicated. I did a
thriving practice for the next hour, trust
ing rather to the harmlessness of my
remedies than to their potency.
Ink pills, I had found through the
years, were especially popular with
Arabs. Their lurid colors and lethal
taste seemed to foster confidence, and
so the faith of the patient generally co
operated as the textbooks say it should.
After a while the chief himself called
a halt and drove out the patients with
his huge fists and feet. We had supper
together, he and I: grilled fish, rice, and
buffalo milk.
After supper the young bucks of the
tribe came and performed for my benefit.
The precentor recited tales of their ex
ploits, while the others chanted the
chorus. Then he sang about me. I had
eyes like a buffalo's. I was tall and
supple like a marsh reed. My beard was
like the setting sun on a mud flat, etc.
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